Posted on 10/15/2009 11:45:55 AM PDT by Arec Barrwin
Rescuers are tracking and chasing a "homemade flying saucer" that is in flight with a 6-year-old, by himself, on board.
The incident started this morning in Fort Collins when the boy got into the balloon-like device, which was built by an adult, and it came loose from a tether, according to the Larimer County Sheriff's Office.
The contraption could rise as high as 10,000 feet, the sheriff's office said.
The home-made flying saucer was last seen in flight over Weld County.
The sheriff's office is working the Federal Aviation Administration to determine how to best get the boy down.
The homemade airplane was tethered in Fort Collins when the boy got onboard and it floated away. (Lisa Ecklund via 9News)
The six-year-old boy was by himself on board the hommade aircraft. (Courtesy Lisa Ecklund, via 9News)
The craft could fly as high as 10,000 feet, according to the Weld County Sheriff's Office. (Lisa Ecklund via 9News)
Thats the point of the show. They get a new mommy for a week.
That was the whole craft—it was not designed to carry a human
apparently there is some kind of a door on that lower portion—think about it, no human was supposed to ride in it, so any latch would have been on the outside, really sad
Dude! HTML is your friend!!! :-O
Bizarre to watch isn’t it? My relative’s show was on CBS. It’s amazing how much it changed his life (and not in a good way.)
please don’t tell me you believe coconuts migrate...
Well, simple! They’d just use a standard creeper!
Problem with the Mythbusters’ scenario was the large number of balloons, since each party balloon adds more weight to the rig. IIRC, they also did the lawn chair with weather balloon myth and that worked pretty easily. It took 16 balloons to lift Adam.
Three words. time lapse coconuts. Youtube it. It’s scarier than watching Paranormal. They travel in groups. Eat anything up to the size of a sleeping key deer. It’s just the movement is so slow, you can’t see it without time lapse photography.
reporting on Fox that some people saw something fall from the ballon while in the air.
That is so dependent on the temperature and the volume of the helium and that it is nigh impossible to be very accurate. The balloon was pretty floppy much of the time- makes it even tougher. Also who knows the weight of the “gondola” structure... the mylar is nigh on weightless. I’ll take a crack at it later on. I believe it very capable of lifting 50#, on first guess.
What kid hasn’t played with a helium balloon and wondered what would happen if you tied a bunch of them to a lawn chair. It’s like the movie “Up.”
Media is disappointed they don’t get to do the cute interview tomorrow.
Well, why not?!
Well my sister is retired Navy, E9. She’s pretty darn grounded. And so is my niece. Shel pretty much told the guys on the show to beat it.
The families are always part of the swap. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a show. If you’re thinking that it is a sexual swap, it isn’t. There was a family I know locally that was part of WS. This family is down to earth, own a ranch, kids get up in the AM to take care of animals, have chores etc. The mom swapped with a high-maintenance wife whose kids had no regular bedtime or mealtime, it was all about what could be bought (toys etc), kids never did anything around the house.
They always choose two diametrically opposed families to swap with. Generally the families end up learning something from the other and try to institute some changes (hard mom lightens up, easygoing mom starts making the kids be more responsible, etc).
I’m really curious as to know why this is sick or why they would be considered freaks????
Oh, I saw the balloon come down on all that fallow land and I wanted to start plowing and seeding. XP! XP! XP!!!!!
yes! i actually saw the show they were on just yesterday! it was during the day so i believe it was a repeat... these parents are stupid and selfish and idiotic... they take their kids with them to chase tornados... the kids have to sleep in their clothes so they can take off at a moment's notice... the mom wakes them up with a megaphone when it's time to go chasing...
The ground search of the area begins ...
If I recall correctly a cubic foot of helium can only lift about an ounce of weight. So to lift 50 pounds you would need 800 cubic feet of helium. If the balloon was a 20 foot diameter circle, it would only have to be an average of 2 1/2 feet thick to hold 800 cubic feet of helium. It was fatter than that. I assume the balloon itself was made of very light materials. Of course you have to correct for the altitude of Denver, but basically it looks like the balloon could have lifted the kid.
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